Friesa Strait
North Kuril city district, Sakhalin region, Russia.
Description:
The Friza Strait is a strait in the North Pacific Ocean, located in the middle of the Great Range of Islands of the Kuril Archipelago. The strait separates the island of Iturup from the island of Urup, and also connects the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk. This is one of the largest straits of the Kuril ridge.
Its length is 30 kilometers, the maximum depth is more than 1300 meters, the minimum width is 40 kilometers. The shores of the strait are rocky and precipitous.
The salinity of the waters of the strait is approximately 33.5 ppm, its cross-sectional area is 17.8 square kilometers.
In the Frisa Strait stands a threshold, with a depth of 500 meters. In its northern part there is the Baydarochnaya Bay, as well as Shchukin Bay. One of the highest waterfalls in Russia - Ilya Muromets lowers its waters directly into the strait.
It is named after the famous Dutch explorer Martin Geritson Fries, the first European to explore the strait. From 1855 to 1875, the strait was the state border between Japan and Russia.